An excellent illustration of how several industrial heating solutions benefit many businesses is the immersion heater industry. These heater types, which are usually electric, play a significant role in heating various industries by replacing furnaces and fuel-based heaters or reactors.
Immersion tubular heater is available in screw plug, flanged, and over-the-side configurations, giving customers many options within their typical use cases. What is an immersion heater precisely, what are some of its main advantages, and which sectors will employ it? This is a basic overview.
Fundamentals of Immersion Heaters
An immersion heater is an electrically driven heating tool that is used to heat materials inside immersible tanks. These devices are used in many different sectors, including as chemical manufacture, petroleum refineries, hazardous material disposal, water and wastewater treatment, and many more.
An immersion heater passes the heating element straight through the metal wall of the tank and is powered by electricity. Thermal radiation between the heating source and the tank’s metal walls transfers heat to the process fluid. A ceramic heater, band heater, cartridge heater, or resistance wire coil can be used as the heating element.
Industries and Applications
We will discuss the sectors and uses for which immersion heaters frequently yield the best results.
Food preparation
Food preparation is one of the single most popular applications for immersion heaters. The immersion heater will uniformly heat materials and goods to a temperature that kills bacteria, which is essential by many food product makers.
Tanks and containers used for dairy products, vegetable extracts, and even juices can easily sterilize using immersion heaters. Additionally, they can cook food to a safe internal temperature or dry it out.
Manufacturing and Packaging
Immersion heaters are useful in the packing industry to seal containers with plastic lids and to heat shrink wrapping. They may also be useful to seal big bags of items, which will assist in preserving their freshness and prevent oxidation by keeping air out.
Immersion heaters are the preferred heating tool for many molding processes in the industrial sector. An immersion heater is an effective way to melt down and inject plastic resin pellets into molds; it’s also the best choice for molding some kinds of plastic.
Petrochemical and Refinery Facilities
Immersion heaters can be helpful in refineries and petrochemical facilities to heat process fluids to varied temperatures for different purposes. Sometimes they are necessary to bring a material to the boil so that its basic elements can escape. They might also be useful to warm a liquid before passing it through a distillation column.
Gas and Oil Sector
In many areas of the oil and gas business, immersion heaters are crucial. The first is the manufacturing process, which involves heating fluids to a certain temperature to extract and refine them.
Immersion heaters are also necessary for the pipeline infrastructure by the oil and gas sector. Pipelines may maintain a specific viscosity level by heating them, which is necessary for the safe transportation of the product.